An Alternate Reality indeed
by RosaS
Summary: Star Trek: Into Darkness spoilers (Khan/OC) - my very first (comments and constructive criticism welcomed) Khan can't believe that she survived Marcus' attacks on their people. And finally he has his chance to get his own back. But has Ava's path of peace come to more fruition than his trail of violence?
1. Chapter 1

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS (ALTERNATIVE REALITY)

CHAPTER ONE

KHAN POV

I was locked in the cell. The only way of getting onto the ship peacefully; of course I could have killed Kirk, Spock and the female, but at first, information had to be extracted. From observing the humans, it genuinely was a wonder they got into space at all. But there I was in the cell. Waiting. Biding my time. Before they would realise that surely I wouldn't surrender that easily without a motive.

At first, it was just a rather tedious 'interrogation' by Kirk. To give Spock some credit, at least he though through his questions logically, but Kirk, all bravado. He wanted to give off an air of control, but he knew too well who had the power here. After 2 hours of asking me why I helped fly the aircraft into the Star Enterprise Headquarters and other mundane questions, he assigned my cell a 'guard'. A 'guard' in case I absconded? Really, I did now think that the human race had regressed in the medieval era. I may be a good fighter, but I had no intention of leaving the ship until I had found them.

And then. They sent her in. Posing as an Enterprise Science and Technology expert. But I would recognise her anywhere. I thought she had been subjected to the re-freezing like the other members of my crew. But she was standing there; my first officer. The best officer I have ever encountered. And my heart swelled. I could never forget her. I never would.

Kirk and Spock were just at the door – I couldn't help myself.

"Ava!"

Her eyes lit up as she turned to me. Pupils dilated a few millimetres. She recognised me at that instant. I swear it.

"I'm afraid you've got the wrong girl, Harrison, this is Annabelle Johnson, the prime officer to make sure you don't act up on my ship" Kirk retorted and stepped back up into the chamber. Spock followed, like the loyal puppy dog that he is. Emotions he may not show, but emotions he does feel. It was written all across his mannerisms around the man. I joked with myself whether or not this loyalty was logical.

"My name is not Harrison, it is Khan. Just Khan. And her name is not Annabelle Johnson. It is Ava. It always has been."

Kirk looked taken aback. Spock had my details in his hands.

"Captain, Mr. Khan is right about his identity. 'John Harrison' only came into existence, never mind into Starfleet, only a year ago." Spock's ever monotonous voice advising his captain on his next moves resounded in the room. Kirk looked at the papers, and then at me. What could I do, smile? I simply glared back at him, all knowing.

"Where do you come from?" Kirk ever-intelligently posed the question at me.

"Earth; where does it look like I come from?" I glanced at Spock trying to look up more details behind him, "To save you, and I, more time, you can stop relying on that thing. SHE already made it past that system onto this ship. I am a genetically modified human. I am better than you in every way – all ways. Stronger, smarter, quicker. And so is she."

Ava stood up from her perch just outside the cell.

"I have no idea who this man is, captain," she looked at Kirk and then Spock, but not back at me, "I have never met him before in my life. I was told to guard the prisoner so he can be brought to a trial. That is all I am here for."

Kirk looked at her. A womanizer, I could tell, and then smiled softly, "I'm sorry about him, Annabelle, he's a nasty piece of work, but I won't put you through guarding him any longer…" he looked around at a dogsbody from the underbelly of the ship outside the door and sent her away. His gaze was then firmly on me as I leant against the wall of the cell. Spock, however, evidently had more than one brain cell to rub together and asked to be excused, still holding his beloved documents file. He was going to check her details. All I needed to do was wait.

I couldn't believe that she could be working for the same dogs that imprisoned us in that icy tomb, only to let us out for their own doing. Especially as she had somehow escaped the terrible fate again.

"Do you enjoy frightening my crew? Because the only reason you are alive is because I say so. I am performing an act of mercy by bringing you back alive. I was told to fire those torpedoes, I was told to take you out Khan. But I didn't. It would be illogical." He walked out of the room, leaving me in no doubt that it was Spock, not his over egotistical self that had suggested following the rules of the enterprise to bring me back to trial (only someone that anal would halt a man with as many accusations as I being shot at left, right and centre).

The ship was a fairly new model. By far not the newest; still a WARP core, a little wear here and there, but Kirk was given a fairly up to date ship for a captain who from all the information I could gather was simply very lucky. I mean, logically, sending a member of crew into a large volcano without causing a fuss with the organisms on the mainland? Really Kirk? Really?

I must've dozed off for a couple of hours through the sheer dreariness of this ship and the slowness of their ability to drag up information about their own crew members, but I was awoken by a confrontation. Professional, but serious, just outside the jail chamber.

"Captain, she does not exist prior to last year, just like Khan. There are no records of her birth, her assignment to this spacecraft, her qualifications to carry out the role she's somehow adopted 1 year ago under the name Annabelle Johnson. Sir, she is a danger to the craft." It was a Vulcan – I would have put money on Spock.

"That's as maybe, Spock, but she is not like him. You have seen her work; she's intelligent, fast, strong, but not unlike other women in her department, and above all, she is not a homicidal maniac. Her file must've been lost." Kirk's over optimism never ceases to amaze me.

"Sir, with all due respect, she should not be aboard this ship at all. I strongly advise that she is kept under the same conditions as Khan. We do not know whether we can trust her."

"Spock, this is me appealing the human half of you. She is not evil. It is a gut feeling, can you understand that?"

"It is highly illogical"

They entered the jail chamber, acting as though they had never argued in their lives and walked right over to my cell.

"We need to ask more questions and we need a blood sample"

"I will not comply", I stared right at Kirk, and then changed to Spock, "unless she is here." I then looked over at the other wall. This made Kirk nervous and Spock ever the more insistent about his hunch over Ava's circumstances. Kirk looked at me, perhaps trying to intimidate, although this was hard for someone of his stature in comparison with a 6, 2" giant in his eyes. Silence filled the air. Then Kirk suddenly called someone from the door to fetch her, all the time looking directly at me. I say me, but it was more my cheek, as the wall was a much more inviting sight.

She walked into the room and approached Kirk and Spock.

"Captain, you called me?" She could sense the tension in the air and I can only imagine she had already realised that her little 'identity crisis' had been leaked. Kirk reluctantly turned around and addressed her.

"He won't comply with any of our requests unless you are here, Annabelle," he almost whispered to her, perhaps in a bid not to annoy Spock further by calling her 'Annabelle', of which he was only too aware was not the case.

"I see," she finally looked at me with those deep brown eyes I had always remembered, more beautiful than any I had ever seen and curled dark brown hair. A blood sample was taken through the cell wall, no doubt they'd waste more of their time discovering that I was genetically modified, not that they'd already had that information, of course. But the questions did not begin for me as they did for her. Spock obviously couldn't stand by any longer.

"Who are you?" he asked her in the same tone he always used when he knew that his answer was right. The good thing with Spock was that he didn't beat around the bush.

"Pardon me?"

"You aren't Annabelle Johnson, unless of course you were born 1 year ago, and on that day you joined the fleet. Who are you?"

Her face writhed with the sense of resignation that she had seldom felt. There was no way out now.

"Ava, sir. Ava Peters," Kirk looked over, horrified that I could be right about her, "I was genetically modified 300 years ago for an Enterprise project, but they chose to cryogenically freeze us and then unthaw us as needed, sir."

Spock looked over at Kirk as she looked at me disdainfully. For some reason I actually felt her pain. But surely, why was she not fighting her way out of here?

"Anna- Ava, we are going to have to," Kirk sighed heavily, "we're going to have to put you in the cell, we don't know what you're capable of, and whether or not you have his 'tendencies'" he added, gesturing at me.

"I am not like him. Let me explain, when we were first brought to life, we acted as one force, as a team, but then things got out of hand, we were allowed to roam free as is we were real humans. I rebelled against the violent slant the others were advocating. I defected from the regime Khan was in. He was too busy hating the people that froze us up in the first place, that he just saw you all as the same. I didn't – I saw you as individuals. I know you aren't evil," she spluttered. It was true that she defected. But these people belonged to the very same organization that tortured us for free labour and she ends up working for them?! I still couldn't believe it.

Spock locked her away in the cell next to my own. We sat, arguing, she was accusing me of living in the past, I accused her of living in a fairy tale with a happy ending. But I still missed her more than anything else in the universe. And finally she was beside me… not perfect, but once one of the Kirk's superior cronies would almost certainly call to have me transferred to the 'mothership', that would be my chance to save the 72 in the torpedoes.


	2. Chapter 2

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS (ALTERNATIVE REALITY)

CHAPTER TWO

AVA POV

I couldn't believe he was alive. We were sent after a guy called John Harrison, and then, I saw him. Just as handsome, just as well built, just as intelligent – oh, and lest I forget _arrogant _as he was when we were frozen. For someone with such a high intellect, I had no idea how he could be fighting against these people. In my mind, he must've been pressured into it, not knowing that he was going to hurt people. Khan was an aggressive fighter, but he was nowhere near a killer by nature. He must've thought all the rest of us had been killed, but we weren't. Spock made sure of that.

Another thing, the ever-charming Spock also made sure of was my true identity being leaked to Kirk. No doubt they all think that we hate all humans and have a death wish. I'm sitting in a cell on the Enterprise – the ship I bloody work on! – next to Khan's because of a slip up in my registration. I could only hope Chekov felt confident enough to take charge of the ship's equipment without me – he's of course, a very intelligent kid, but very young to take on all of that.

I could hear Dr Bones and the Captain approaching the door to the room. I could only hope they'd let me out, but no such luck, I had to have a blood test. So, they would now definitely know that I was one of the genetic mutant batch… joy of joys. Once the blood had been taken, the doctor left abruptly, as though he couldn't bear being in the same room with either me or Khan, let alone both of us. I felt… diseased. Maybe this was what Khan was talking about. But I couldn't even dream of telling him I was considering one of his opinions.

Kirk, however, stayed… silent for a while and then he looked at me "Ava, why did you just not tell us? We could've wrangled something, I know you aren't of his elk…" he seemed in desperation. I was about to answer, when someone decided it was their turn to speak.

"If she'd have told you, no matter what your intentions were, your higher ups would have made her disappear; that's why '_captain'!" _Khan interjected – and I couldn't help but see his point. It was the superior officers in Starfleet who took advantage of us.

"I didn't tell you because a year ago, I escaped being frozen again by Admiral Marcus. He thinks we are scum. I couldn't just waltz into any job – this is all I knew, so I went under a pseudonym at a lower level," I managed to articulate that, but nothing else. Lost for words, I slumped back into the corner of the cell.

It was as if Satan himself was listening. Kirk's Enterprise had been being followed by Vengeance: the ship I had only heard about, but I knew that Khan had designed it – it was rumoured to be the ultimate war machine. But even worse, it was captained by Marcus. Our very lives were in the hands of Kirk.

Marcus immediately asked that both Khan and I were transported to the Vengeance, and I was horrified when Kirk agreed!

"CAPTAIN! YOU CAN'T SEND US BACK!" I couldn't contain myself, Khan was right, all of these people; all of them were against us because we were the strong ones.

Marcus went offline and Kirk turned around to us.

"Khan, I think what you have done is despicable and I will do everything in my power when we return to Earth to have you brought to justice for every little thing that you have done. But I need your help," he started, "Ava I need you to support."

"Captain?"

"We aren't going to hand you over… we can't stay here. We're going to have to run," he turned to a guy behind him, "tell Chekov to fire up WARP…" and then left Khan and I in our cells.

Most people can't feel the ship in motion, that is, unless your name is Khan Noonien Singh. He could tell when we were trying to escape. He shouted to Kirk, hoping that he was still in a nearby corridor, "WARP WILL NOT WORK. I DESIGNED THE SHIP. YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!"

For a minute, I had to remind myself whose side Khan was on. And then the answer hit me – nobody really knew. I knew he wasn't innately evil. But he was angry: angry at the world for our awful treatment. He seemingly didn't know how to split the good from the bad in the Starfleet – but really, I asked myself, was he wrong? These people had been sent out on a mission armed with torpedoes, and Kirk accepted. But that was it. Kirk was following orders and nobody else had a say, how can I blame them for what happened?

Suddenly I was thrown from the ground to the ceiling of the cell. Sparks everywhere, a flash of white light, sirens sounding across the deck. We'd been hit… which could only have meant that we'd been caught. I could hear Khan cursing quietly under his breath. Kirk came running back in a few minutes later and almost literally begged Khan for any information to save his crew. Apparently, we had only felt one of the many hits the ship had taken. Marcus was not in a bargaining mood. He was going to take us all down.

"The weapons can be shut down manually, but that has to be done from inside the ship. Do we have an inside man that we can contact?" Khan cut Kirk off.

Kirk paused for a while and then, as if by a miracle, remembered that he had accepted Scotty's resignation from the Enterprise. If we had any luck left, he would have been reassigned to the Vengeance – he was one of the best weapons masters in the business. He flipped out his phone. I prayed for good fortune. Luckily those prayers were answered. And Scotty was already aware of our predicament and was preparing to shut down the weapon control unit. I love that man.

Kirk put down the phone.

"Scotty has disabled their weapons. I need to take that ship from him. Khan knows that ship inside out. And you… I know you will be the only one to keep him on track. Space jump?"

I couldn't see Khan's face, but if it was anything like mine, it was half relieved that Kirk wasn't a monster and half wary of seeing that evil bastard on Khan's ship again. I couldn't do anything but agree. Seeing the agreement on our faces, he nodded, ordered us to but on black Starfleet uniforms and let the cell door security down.

We marched down the corridor, clad up in our uniforms ready for the jump between the two ships. And then, jumped out into the nothingness of space. Although I could only enjoy it for a fraction of a second before noticing firstly the amount of debris and other crap floating out here and secondly, the big old missile launcher pointing at my face a thousand or so metres away.

We set off at an incredible pace. Spock was talking to us about coordinates – and I'm not going to lie, I never followed them more than a guideline when I used them at work, so why break the habit, right? Scotty flung open the airlock at just the right time and we clambered up onto the deck. We'd made it to Khan's ship. It was as impressive as I'd heard it would be and more. Scotty armed us up with some spare guns he found in the lockers and we were off to the bridge.

My heart was racing. I was finally going to confront the man who kept us from living all of that time – was I ready, probably not, but was I going to give it a good try, oh my yes.


	3. Chapter 3

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS (ALTERNATIVE REALITY)

CHAPTER THREE

KIRK POV

There was no way we would have been able to enter the ship without Khan – he knew every nook and cranny of this thing, having designed it not all that long ago. But of course, he knew this only too well, and started giving us orders. When addressing me, he would give me the odd 'captain' at the end to make sure I didn't punch him in the face. Again.

Khan and Ava led our small party of rebels, while Scotty and I took the rear. I had left Spock in charge of Enterprise and told him to prepare the torpedoes; prepare for the worst. I would trust the man with my life and all of my possessions; he truly was my best friend. But everyone knew about Spock and his necessity for following rules and regulations. I could only hope Spock wouldn't freak out when given orders from Marcus, which I was only too sure would happen if we were found on-board.

"These two upfront, they're not normal recruits, are they?" Scotty tapped me on the shoulder and whispered in his Scottish lilt. I looked ahead. Khan was holding the gun as though it was a hindrance and Ava was on the lookout for anyone ahead.

"It's a long story – but the girl's alright. It's him…" I gestured with my head towards Khan, "you want to keep your eye on."

"Aye, Jim – captain" Scotty added. Next thing I know, I bumped into the back of Ava. Not that I minded.

"There's a few here, Kirk. We cannot get past them unless we take action," Khan turned to look at me, "we cannot just sneak by unseen. I'm sure someone would have realised that the airlock had been opened by now."

I knew it. Just my bloody luck. Come on here to sabotage enough to make sure enterprise could escape and maybe give Marcus the two fingers, and I had a feeling we were going to have a war on this ship.

"Fine."

I felt an awful groan in the pit of my stomach that the torpedoes were not going to stay dormant for much longer…

Without any warning Khan leapt forward, Ava followed and they simultaneously karate kicked two guards, flinging them unconscious to the opposite sides of the room. There was no time for astonishment at Ava's capabilities until we were under fire.

"What the bloody hell was that!" Scotty crouched under a metal box next to me. I just looked at him and we popped up over the box to exchange fire. A guy from above fell down, stunned. I heard some shouting and then more rounds going off. It was only after managing to take down half a dozen guys, with Scotty's help that I realised I couldn't see Khan or Ava anywhere.

"They've gone!"

"What do you mean gone?"

I looked at Scotty "Can you see them, no, that usually means they're gone..."

"Alright matey, they cannae have got too far," Scotty started and ran a few metres in front, looking around for any exits, "I can hear a woman's voice…"

The crunching sound of bones dislocating echoed through the deck. And then suddenly Ava appeared, Khan in tow. I knew it was a good idea to bring her along. She half smiled at us and gestured us to join them quickly. Then as we just about reached them, Khan set off again, at a lightning speed. As we were running after him through the swathes of metal, guns, arms, missiles, 'transporter' ships, it was becoming all too real that Marcus was an out and out warmonger, with only the intention to have his own little war, to have people die at his will. No wonder Khan turned out the way he did.

Khan stopped abruptly as we reached a more familiar site in any ship. There were corridors to offices and what looked like med bays. But he stopped in front of a particular metal door.

"This is the bridge," Ava whispered back to us, "He's in there." Her eyes flickered a little in the artificial light we were all so used to. I could tell why any man would fall for her. And my money was on the man with a metal heart – Khan. I think even Scotty, having only just met them, knew that there must've been something going on, for at least one of them.

Khan's grip tightened on his gun – the very same he seemingly was only holding on to in order to make the rest of us feel safer. The atmosphere heightened with tension.

"We are going to go in. We are going to stun everything in that room apart from him. He will want the 72. Spock may have already given him the 72. But he is not to be trusted. He will kill your crew, Kirk. He will kill them as though they are vermin." He said all of this in a surprisingly calm, calculating tone, which, in addition to his already very serious British accent, meant I that I knew this was going to be a lot harder than I'd thought. And I knew that I was not going to let anything happen to my crew – I'd rather die. I too took a firmer grasp of my gun. Scotty looked as though they had already died and he was hunting for revenge. Ava was the only one who looked troubled at the idea of what was evidently going to happen. We were going to kill Marcus.

With no time to waste we burst into the bridge and shot blindly into the room. I heard some people fall to the ground from their posts. Marcus turned around and with disgust looked at Ava and Khan.

"You! I knew one of the others had got out, but it had to be the pacifist, didn't it my dear?" He spat at Ava. Before she had any time to retaliate, Khan had already knocked him to the floor with one punch.

"This is MY ship!" Khan roared at the Admiral, before ultimately started and all out fist fight. No matter how many times the general hit Khan, the man just wouldn't go down. Not only that, but he didn't bleed, didn't bruise; it just looked as though he'd just got out of bed – a bit dishevelled. We'd managed to floor everyone else on the bridge. Then Marcus grabbed the chair to send all weapons towards my ship; Khan managed to throw him off of the chair and desperately tried to find an override code for all of the weapons – for something he had never imagined would happen on his ship. He managed to override a few major weapons that would result in obliteration, but not enough. At that moment, Spock came on the screen in front of us, seeing Khan at the helm with Scotty, Ava and I on the floor and immediately assumed the worst.

He sent the torpedoes and disconnected before any of us could say anything.

During the few seconds we had before the hit, I realised that we were entering the Earth's atmosphere. Sirens on board filled the air. The whole ship tilted and then the impacts from the torpedoes rained down on us.

"ESCAPE!" Khan picked Ava, Scotty and I up from off of the floor and threw us into an escape pod before we could say anything, jettisoning us from the ship moments before the Vengeance plummeted into the San Francisco Sea, exploding on impact. Ava pressed herself up against the door, facing the outside world and silently wept.

"Khan…" she whispered through her tears, as her hands slid down the door. She had loved him after all. I couldn't believe I was saying it, but he was a good man, led astray by an evil tyrant. Scotty put his hand on her shoulder.

"He was a brave man," he started, before she turned around to cry in his arms, "a very brave lad."

Scotty looked at me as I sat in the pod waiting for landing. I walked up to the glass door and it occurred to me – somewhat late. The enterprise hadn't blown up. It didn't sink. Spock had saved my crew, but killed an unlikely ally in the process. I should've been happy. I was happy. But Ava's tears scarred my heart. She was alone.

We landed with a thud. But we were alive. The door opened to an unsuspecting public audience, clapping that we had survived the ship crash that still had many too shocked to realise what was going on.

And then, Scotty's phone lit up. It was Uhura.

"Scotty, we saw a pod leaving the ship before it crashed, please tell me that you and Kirk managed to escape that?"

"Aye, we did, but we got in there not through our own actions – it was forced upon us…"

"What?"

"Khan threw us in there after he tried to override the weapons launcher – he managed to stop a few major ones, but not enough. He ordered us to leave the ship. Saving both you and us."

"But Spock's just beamed down to kill him on the construction pathway!"

Ava's attention piqued at the name of her significant other.

"He's alive?" she grabbed the phone from Scotty.

"Erm… well, hopefully."


	4. Chapter 4

STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS (ALTERNATIVE REALITY)

CHAPTER FOUR

SPOCK POV

We had managed to stabilise the ship using the WARP core to prevent us from falling further into the atmosphere above west coast America. It was highly irregular for an attack from a ship of Vengeance's arsenal to not be fatal; I did not have the confidence to promise anything to the crew in the bridge. From the observation window in the bridge, I could see the Vengeance plummet into the ocean, before exploding on impact. It was highly improbable that anyone on-board would have survived – including Khan and the Captain. I inhaled sharply. I found it hard to come to terms with not knowing with utmost confidence the captain's fate. Uhura placed her hand on my shoulder. At any other time, this would have been somewhat unprofessional, but I found it gave me some comfort. We were resting above the city of San Francisco; below us was a construction district, with metal containers being transported via air.

"Sir, I am scanning the area below us and for some reason, it is saying that he's in the vicinity, Captain. Khan is in the vicinity." Sulu informed us from the silence.

I stood up. He must have been the only survivor.

"How can that man not die?!" Uhura looked at me in what I believe humans would call desperation.

I had always tried to detach myself from human emotion, as although it was not well known, Vulcans feel extreme emotion. I find that externally I achieve non-emotional states with a high degree of success. But internally. It was a different matter.

Internally I was being consumed by rage that this murderer had added my Captain to his long list of victims. He may have only been an accessory to the other murders via a superior telling him what to do, but in my eyes, he had taken away this ship's captain. I found this feeling too overwhelming to contain.

I looked over at Uhura, begging her to allow me to kill this man. She looked back at me, kissed my forehead and told me to give him all I had.

As I was beamed down, Sulu and Uhura were talking about some sort of capsule and she picked up her phone. I did not question any of the content. I had to kill this man. I was put in the vicinity of his location on the site below. I was on a flying container. Confused at this illogical placement, I looked over the sides until I saw him, behind one of the pillars on the container. He seemed relieved (?) to see me.

I punched him in the face. I may not be super human, but Vulcan strength is more highly regarded than even the best human strength. He faltered a little, as if not expecting a blow. I carried on punching him with no reply. Until, all I could feel was my chest collapsing in on itself. He was certainly one of the strongest individuals we had ever faced. He appeared, bloodied by my previous blows, a broken nose, a bruised eye, from behind the pillar and continued to exchange blows with me. I had to be careful. Blood was starting to run from my forehead, one of my eyes swollen. My chest ached. As we were fighting, Uhura had beamed herself down to our location.

"STOP, SPOCK, STOP!" she yelled at me, grabbing my shoulders as I was pinning Khan down to the floor.

"SPOCK, HE SAVED OUR LIVES", and with that, I knocked him out.

I turned around to her, still, somewhat illogically pinning him down.

"He sent weapons at our ship to kill us," I started, but she cut me short.

"He sent overrides to save us, Spock. He put the Captain, Scotty and Ava in an escape pod so that they would have a good chance of surviving and must have just jumped out himself, hoping for the best."

"The captain is alive?"

"Yes."

I looked down at the unconscious man beneath me. I had made a very bad miscalculation. Clambering up, I took the liberty of lifting Khan up, so that when we were down from this contraption, I could carry him to the Starfleet Medical Hospital. It was really the least I could do… as I had escaped with perhaps a few broken ribs, a broken cheekbone and black eyes. And he… well, he was out stone cold.

We arrived at the hospital and I was greeted with a rather irate Ava Peters, Kirk and Scotty sitting down on beds behind her.

"What have you done to him!?" Ava pierced me with her eyes and with relative ease, took him from my arms and carried him to a bed next to Scotty. Within a flash, the doctors were with him, and I… well I was pinned up against a wall by a British woman, considerably shorter than I and I am not ashamed to say I expected to get beaten up.

"He wasn't aware of the circumstances when he was beamed down; he thought Khan had killed Jim, Ava. Please just let him down. His Vulcan sense of shame will let him beat himself up anyway." Uhura interjected with her hand on Ava's shoulder.

Ava's eyes softened and I felt my feet once again touching the floor as she let me down.

"I am truly sorry." I added, the pain in my chest really starting to worsen.

"It is fine. You need medical attention as well. The placement of your hand over you ribs, yet no vocal sound of pain tells me that around three of your ribs are broken, both eyes will bruise more heavily, the left more than the right; incidentally, your left cheekbone is also broken, a clean break, no fracture." She rattled these facts off as though she could see inside my very being.

"Indeed," I added and sat down on the bed next to Khan's as Ava painstakingly attended to Khan's wounds. She was cleaning them with the gentlest motions I have ever seen. Without the blood on his face, he had actually fared a lot better than it at first seemed. Only one of his eyes was bruising, the cut from which the blood had been flowing was only a very minor abrasion above his upper lip. But I had broken his nose. The doctors had held it in the proper place again with surgical tape. He was beginning to rouse. His hand gripped Ava's on the steel metal bar on the bed.

He then looked at me, I prepared for his wrath. But instead, he hardly sat up and in one breath he said: "I can only assume that you didn't know the whole story, Spock."

"Indeed not, otherwise my actions would have been highly illogical," I replied.

"Indeed," he agreed and looked to his other side, where Scotty and the Captain had come over to see how he was.

"Thanks for saving us, Khan." Jim said simply, offering his hand (! – in Vulcan culture this is highly irregular unless you are in love, I will never truly understand 'handshakes' as a form of formal greeting.)

"You didn't deserve to die, Kirk. No-one but Marcus did. I see that now. I am glad that I did not kill the others first hand, but I am deeply saddened that I did not see what Ava had been trying to tell me over and over again," he turned to her, still holding her hand as though if he let go he would lose her.

She smiled and placed a kiss on top of his forehead. He seemed content. Although it was not said, I do believe the sentiment was shared.

"Oh, and by the way, Khan. The 72 did not die. I removed their bodies from the torpedoes. But I believe it would be better to perhaps leave them be, for a fair while, no?" I knew that this would probably make him happier.

"You are a true Star Fleet officer, Spock." His eyes lit up as he addressed me. Jim and Scotty seemed surprised that I had thought of it. I mean, it was only logical, following code #2965 for not endangering life uninvolved in conflict.

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I could leave the story here, or I could carry on with a more Khan/Ava focused story?

Thankyou!

Much love x


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